Thursday, November 3, 2016

This is the first time I have used my blog to write a retort to what I am constantly seeing about copying tatting designs.

This is the first time I have responded to online complaints by tatters whining about patterns and designs being stolen: stolen and sold.

I am fed up with reading rubbish about copying from those who know little or nothing about what is allowed and what is not.

If in doubt, speak with your solicitor. Lawyers are the experts in design theft. Make certain the solicitor's specialty is Intellectual Property, for there is an abundance of misinformation, even in the legal community; this is a convoluted and complex area of the law.

Let me make it abundantly clear: I advocate neither the copying nor the selling of other people's designs. I repeat: I do not promote design theft.

If you copy and sell, that is copyright infringement. Plain and simple. Copy and sell, you break the law.

What I know is that for a design to be new, the overall impression should be substantially different from any existing design. Substance is considered the part of a design that defines your work as unique and truly gives it originality.

That said, look at these designs:

They all begin with a star, which is either a five or six point shape, to which no copyright attaches.

Then there is a personal adaption of that star, with varying stitch counts, repeats, unique centres or outside chains. There can be many, many variances, all individually chosen.

Keep in mind that the trefoil pattern, like the star shape, cannot be owned any more than can these shapes:

There is really no substantial difference visually in any of these designs.

It would follow that a designer could use an ubiquitous, common pattern, embellish it and sell it without doing harm.

Equally, a designer could re-work a pattern owned by no one, individualize it giving it a personal design twist such as an outside beaded chain, or an unusual centre with a doodad insert or crystals. It can then be either given away for free or sold for profit. Either way, it would follow that there is no theft.

This is a tatting design utilizing rings, chains, the trefoil and from 1921 - almost a century old now.